Posts Tagged ‘impact’

The FOUR YEARS.GO. initiative is a commitment to build the collective will for the transformation of how we live on this planet.

The most powerful first step an individual can make is to take a stand for this transformation.

When we have taken a stand, the world shifts. When we have taken a stand new possibilities and opportunities show up, that weren’t evident before. We see the world with new eyes.

Taking a stand is always for something, never against or in opposition to. Positions create opposition and resistance. Taking a stand creates an opening, and an opening creates room for other people to be involved.

Taking a stand is something we do despite the circumstances. It is something we do from our hearts, from our passion. Against the odds. When we take a stand, we commit to something coming into being that would not happen without taking a stand.

Taking a stand allows for the impossible to become possible, and for the possible to become real. Without someone taking a stand, nothing important happens. It is an essential step in creating our new world.

From our stand, we take action; and from having taken a stand our actions have a power and effectiveness that they never would have without taking a stand. Our stands are nothing if we never take action, of course. And without a stand our actions lack power.

Multiplying Your Impact

Invite your friends, loved ones and colleagues to take a stand with you for a thriving, just and sustainable world to be the guiding principle of our time. And invite them to take the actions that are consistent with that commitment. When you invite others, it multiplies the difference you make. When everybody does this, our power grows exponentially, and the numbers grow very fast.

200 million people standing for creating a powerful, just and sustainable world by 2014 will be an awesome manifestation of collective will. The actions we take collectively inside of our stands can deliver on the promise of our time. This is the promise of the FOUR YEARS.GO initiative.

“How can I slow down climate change?”

This is a question that those of us who care about our planet’s well-being frequently ask ourselves. Almost any activities we do will release greenhouse gases. Driving to work, heating the house, throwing out our trash each week…the list seems endless. And, of course there are our countless choices which indirectly accelerate climate change. Here are three actions you can take today to reduce your personal emissions.

1. Visit the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website to use their free tools. Their personal greenhouse gas emissions calculator gives you a way to estimate your total greenhouse gas emission and then helps you figure out the right ways to decrease it. After that, the EPA tells you simple ways to reduce your impact on climate change, at home, at work or at school.

2. Go Meatless on Mondays. If you want to slow down climate change, a great place to start is looking at what you eat. While the US only comprises 5% of the world’s population, we consume more than 15% of the world’s meat. Check out non-vegetarian Mark Bittman’s comprehensive look at America’s meat consumption. Then, go to the Meatless Monday website to learn how and why you should go meatless on Mondays.

A clarification: this meatless move is advisable for those of us city and suburb dwellers, who buy meat after it goes through a long chain of production. For those of us who live on a property with livestock that we later eat, or who live nearby a responsible rancher, raising meat can be a boon to agricultural production, providing free fertilizer for the ground and turning sun-grown grass into calories for us. Like almost everything important in life, it is impossible to break this issue down into black and white, good and evil, vegetarians and meat-eaters. However, if you want to start lessening your impact on climate change today, taking a serious look at your diet is a great place to start.

3. Sign up to participate in 10.10.10, a global day of positive action towards climate change. From changing a lightbulb to planting a tree to transitioning to solar power, anyone can join in the world-wide party on October 10, 2010. Learn more on the FOUR YEARS. GO. Guide to 10.10.10.